Ralph Lauren Volunteers at the Farmers Market for City Harvest

My associate Anne and I in the office before we headed down to the Farmers Market. 
    My employer Ralph Lauren is super-committed to volunteering and philanthropy and making the world better. For instance, a big initiative of the company each October is the Pink Pony program which raises money and awareness for cancer care and research. In fact, The Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation funds the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in Harlem in order to provide excellent care in an underserved community.
    Four times a year the Company sponsors Gives Back weeks, when employees around the world volunteer for a wide variety of organizations. Recently, myself and some associates signed up to help out City Harvest at the Union Square Farmers Market. TD and I love the Union Square Farmers Market where we shop for food and flowers every Saturday. The last chapter of my book is about the Market. City Harvest is an important organization here in New York which works to feed the city's hungry by gathering or "rescuing" food from restaurants, groceries, bakeries and farms. Our job at the end of the day at the Farmer's Market would be to gather leftover food from the farmers.
    On a Wednesday night, my department associate Anne and I took the subway down to Union Square where we gathered with other Ralph Lauren volunteers and met a volunteer from City Harvest who gave us instructions. Armed with big plastic bags, we were directed to approach the farmers and ask if they had any leftovers to donate. The farmers had been through this drill before so they were familiar with the request.
   We split up in groups and off we went. Some farmers had nothing to donate and some had A LOT. We filled the plastic bags and then the bags went in big plastic rolling carts.
We packed up loads of basil and herbs -

Beautiful red and yellow tomatoes - 

Luscious peaches and firm green beans -

We stripped the tables bare -

The bags piled up in the big rolling carts -

     All of the fresh food smelled and looked so good - I wanted to take it home myself!
     We rolled the plastic carts to a big City Harvest truck. An employee there emptied the carts into the truck. It all happened pretty quickly as the farmers were packing up and going home. When we were done we were told that we had gathered 6,500 pounds of food in 190 bags which were going directly to a food bank in Brooklyn that night! That was satisfying.
   That evening I posted a picture from the Market on Facebook, and a friend of ours who is a minister in Brooklyn left a comment saying that her church's food bank got a delivery from City Harvest every Wednesday night, and that perhaps the guests there were enjoying the very food that we had just packed up. Amazing!
   Check out City Harvest - it's a great organization. And kudos to Ralph Lauren for encouraging employees to volunteer and help in important ways.

Spring Comes Slowly to NYC

Take a seat in Union Square (click on photos to enlarge)
Spring is tiptoeing in late to New York City this year. Unusually cool weather lingers and has kept the joys of April at bay, but slowly the trees and flowers of the city are coming to life. Because it is late and we are anticipating it, spring in New York seems more beautiful than I remember it being in the past. Its absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Up on the High Line, white flowering shrubs crowd an urban walkway. 

At the Saturday morning Farmer's Market in Union Square, trays of plants are coming out for city gardeners.

A metal bucket of tulips was suspended in the air 

and there is a profusion of bouquets to select from.

At Abingdon Square in Greenwich Village, a magnolia tree framed a renowned Bing & Bing apartment building

and pale petals fell to the ground around bright red tulips.

At Bryant Park in midtown, the tall trees are budding

and the tulip beds are bursting 

but no sitting on the green lawn yet because it has just been re-seeded.

On Saturday I went to the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene which has recently moved back to its outdoor spot at the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School. A visitor leaving the Flea rode his bicycle down Lafayette Avenue -

Sunday was a warm and clear day in Central Park. My favorite place to be is around the Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir where pink trees are now blooming in profusion. I believe these are Kwanzan cherry trees from Japan.

Families had picnics under the branches. Very Sunday in the Park with George.

The majestic towers of the San Remo apartment building on the west side rose above the soft green and pink colors of springtime Central Park.

I love that combination of urban architecture plus spring blooms – art plus nature, it is the city at its best.

A Day in Chelsea: Flowers and Art

Great style at the farmer's market. (Click on photos to enlarge)
Gee, I've had some ideas for the blog but they didn't work out. (Did you see the Hemingway & Gellhorn movie on HBO? I was really looking forward to that but it wasn't so good.)
New York City came to the rescue: yesterday TD and I had a nice day in the neighborhood. It started at the Union Square Farmers Market which is now in full tilt. The woman pictured above was wearing a cotton coat and carrying bunches of flowers in her arm. Her coat was not new trendy fashion but instead a beautiful, timeless print which looked especially great combined with the flowers. That to me is real style.
Into our canvas shopping bag we crammed lilies, sunflowers and a baguette. What else do you need?

Bunches of peonies with a yellow eyelet dress

and waves of perennials.

Back at home a red sparrow visited the bird feeder

while Bell napped on the couch below.

Then it was off again to some art galleries in Chelsea. First stop, Gagosian Gallery for the murals and portraits of Richard Avedon. Between 1969 and 1971, Avedon created four huge murals which pictured Andy Warhol and the Factory, The Chicago Seven, military and government officials known as the Mission Council, and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and his family.

The murals are gigantic, and it was almost like watching a movie as they progressed along the walls.
Then it was on to Matthew Marks to see paintings by Brice Marden.

Most of the paintings here were oil on slabs of marble which Marden completed last year on the Greek island of Hydra. The thin paint on the white marble was serene and quiet.
Then we stopped into 192 Books on 10th Avenue which seems to be just about the last independent bookstore on the isle of Manhattan.

After this exploration, we required some refreshments so happily we found two empty stools at the bar at The Red Cat restaurant where we had a restorative glass of wine and some French fries. On our way home we vowed that our next foray would be up to the High Line which is now extended up to 30th Street.

Happy Easter

Flowers ablaze at the Union Square Farmer's Market (click on photos to enlarge)
It's Easter Weekend here in NYC and the weather is beautiful. I am a person who is definitely affected by the lack of light in the winter time, and I can feel myself "wake up" around this time in the spring when the sunlight returns and flowers are blooming in NYC.
A magnolia tree blossoms against a brick wall on Hudson Street -

Waves of tulips in Abingdon Square which used to be covered in asphalt -

A deli on Sixth Avenue offers a spring selection -

On West 20th Street, forsythia, lilacs and wisteria co-mingle -

At the Union Square Farmer's Market, Cyclamen $5 -

Flowering branches at the Durr's truck at the Farmer's Market -
Parrot tulips in a metal firehouse bucket at the Upper Rust, one of my favorite shops, on East 9th Street -

A pale hydrangrea and tulips from the Farmer's Market in the living room -

I hope you are enjoying flowers too and the spring season and having a lovely holiday weekend.

Summer Pleasure

(click on photo to enlarge)
Recently at the Union Square Farmer's Market, at the Durr's truck, I bought these gladiolas. This big bunch was only $6. I love the spectrum of bright colors, and how they match the peaches and the tomatoes also from the Farmer's Market. When I was growing up, upstate in New Hartford, New York, in the summertime we, the kids, drove with my mother in the station wagon over back country roads to Clinton to a farmer's stand where she bought colorful gladiolas. It was often in the late afternoon when it wasn't so hot and she also bought fresh ears of corn and tomatoes for dinner. When I see gladiolas I think of summer afternoons at that farmer's stand in Clinton. Gladiolas fell out of fashion as a flower but I think the bright spikes of blossoms are pretty glorious. It's time for gladiolas to make a comeback, don't you think?

The Farmer's Market in July

Straw hat
I just love this time of year. I wish it was summer year 'round. Do you think we should move to Florida? The Union Square Farmer's Market is now in full swing and we are just back from our Saturday morning trip to stock up on vegetables and flowers.

From the west side, we cut through Union Square to get to the Durr's flower truck on the east side. Pale, poetic variegated hydrangeas are now blooming in Union Square; you know I'm a fan of hydrangeas.

The Durrs now have rows and rows of flowers from which to choose.

Another stand offered these Denver daisies. I like the name of that.

This stand sells lovely lilies. We get a small bouquet pictured in the front and put the single flowers around the house – they smell heavenly when you pass by.

Sunflowers – $2 each, 3 for $5.

Piles of carrots and big radishes in vivid hues.

I'm waiting for the tomatoes to come!
Have a great summer weekend.

Happy Easter: Say It With Flowers

A blaze of tulips (click on photos to enlarge)
Even though I was wearing leather gloves today in the chilly weather, spring is tiptoeing forward in time for Easter with its attendant blooms. We have been picking up flowers at the Union Square Farmer's Market which is slowing coming to life after a brutal winter.
A field of ranunculuses at the Farmer's Market

and cut tulips in the living room

Anemones in the sunlight

and a pot tulips at dusk

Flowers plus candles is a winning combination

so buy some flowers
and celebrate the joy of the weekend